1994

This dress, Dada Poem Wedding Dress, was made for the Dada Ball held in New York City on October 12th, 1994 at Webster Hall. The event was a benefit for Visual Aids and Housing Works. In this performance I wanted to talk about our era of Aids and also the theme of the Dada Ball by using the metaphor of a woman wearing a dress. The idea was inspired by Duchamp’s “The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even”. The dress is a brown paper dress painted white and stamped with the words of the Emily Dickinson poem, “The Soul Has Bandaged Moments”. I chose a virginal white dress as a reminder of the many women who are HIV positive, and as a symbol of the incredible loss of innocence that awareness of early morality has brought us. In many ways, though on a more subtle parallel level, the wedding event is one of loss of single selfness, and potential gain of a doubly lived life. At the time of the ceremony itself, the bride and family are in a moment of experiencing loss of an unknown future. The ceremony and accompanying celebrations are nevertheless joyous in anticipation of expanded family and uniting community. The champagne comes with the uncertainty and hope.

As the words of the poem were recited, four of us began ripping the dress apart word by word. The intention was inspired by Duchamp-the bride stripped bare- but by having women doing this instead of “bachelors” I hoped to include a feeling of tending and the care of grooming that women to women can give. As we tore the dress, it no longer represented an aloof beauty, protected by this skin/ dress/ bandage of words. It was ripped to shreds, paralleling our fragile mortality as well as the unending violence against women. But the performer, now dressless, was painted with the same words of the poem on her nude body. With silence and care I went to her and with my mouth drew out a long ribbon from her mouth, us both mutely testifying to the survival and strength of the spirit.

Afterwards, I sewed the dress back together again.